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Who kept this family alive?

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Who gave this kid a future?

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Who gave this mother hope that her child would live?

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These people did. European citizens.

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The European Union is the biggest donor of external assistance in the world.

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Half of all global assistance comes from us.

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Amounting to some 30 billion euro per year.

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One third of them directly managed by the European Union.

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Europe gives literally worldwide.

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Here, here and here.

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With assistance ranging from humanitarian aid to the poorest populations.

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To reconstruction of post-conflict areas.

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And the building of democracies and better governments.

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Building an ever-expanding range of partnerships with third countries.

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Why would European taxpayers want the EU to do all this with their money?

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Is their money being well spent?

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Nearly half the world's population lives on less than 2 euro a day.

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The European Union and its member states support the international goals for poverty reduction.

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In Africa we've spent some 10 billion euro per year on relieving poverty.

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With instruments as diverse as improving trade opportunities, everything but arms, or ensuring there's clean water to drink.

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We know we can't address all the challenges at once, so we've focused on a number of priority areas.

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Sustainable rural development and food security.

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To ensure there's not only food today, but a good prospect of food tomorrow.

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Health and education are another two crucial issues for the future of these countries.

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Transport.

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Infrastructures.

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Institutional building.

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The European Union tries also to help all of these countries in achieving a higher degree of regional integration.

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So as to improve their presence in international gatherings.

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Since the Taliban fell in 2001, the European Union has been a major player in the reconstruction of the country.

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Europe is not a military superpower, but it has a major role on the world stage through external assistance.

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Helping these refugees to return home, ensuring there's work for them to earn a living wage,

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giving them alternatives to poppy production, is not simply an act of humanity.

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It has the explicit aim of stabilizing Afghanistan, so that it never again poses such a danger to the rest of the world.

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While this may look like social work, it's actually a form of security policy.

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Election observation missions like this one in Ecuador in 2002,

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are just one of the ways the European Union uses external assistance as an instrument to promote the values we believe in abroad.

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The operation here aims to support the democratic process and the rights of voters.

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Human rights, good governance and the rule of law are the central themes of European Union external assistance across the globe.

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Here in the Western Balkans, physical reconstruction, for example of homes damaged in Vukovar and in Mostar,

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has gone hand in hand with the reconstruction of well-functioning governments.

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The EU spent around 30 million euro in 2001 on building working institutions,

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and particularly stronger police, customs and judicial authorities.

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Assistance is not just charity, but a way of spreading the values we believe in,

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to help others achieve the kind of stability we take for granted.

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Europe's taxpayers have a right to demand that we spend their money efficiently,

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and this commission has taken important steps to ensure that assistance is delivered faster and more coherently.

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Efficiency isn't just about accountability to taxpayers though.

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Under reforms brought in by this commission, this demining operation in a post-conflict area is managed locally rather than in Brussels.

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That means it's being handled by people who can see what's going on and troubleshoot any problems that arise.

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These children now back at school in the Middle East don't know it of course,

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but the speed with which their school reopened is due in no small part to this commission's reforms in the way it operates its external assistance.

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Reforms have matched human resources better to task in hand, which means a speedier, more efficient operation.

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In 2002, we dispersed nearly half of the 280 million euro we earmarked for Afghanistan.

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These persons are implementing a comprehensive rural development project that makes their general daily life conditions better.

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Water supply, better farming techniques, use of solar energy.

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The EU believes however that social conditions must be part and parcel of any coherent and sustainable development.

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These women in Niger are much more the protagonists and managers of their future than any civil servant sitting in a European capital.

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The reforms introduced by this commission are improving everyday life of people across the globe.

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There is however much further to go and that is a new challenge for the enlarged Europe.

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There is however much further to go and that is a new challenge for the enlarged Europe.